The Family Business
by k00lperson
Summary: Maura takes over the Irish mob.
1. Chapter 1

The criminal underworld was in chaos. The leader of the Irish mob was in hospital, surrounded by police, days away from being transferred to prison. Every gang looking to make their mark on the world saw a golden opportunity. The only thing that was stopping an all out gang war was Maura Isles, the daughter of Patty Doyle, and therefore the heir to her father's criminal empire. When Maura went to visit her father he told her that she had to take over, at least temporarily, or thousands of people would die. He handed her his phone and told her it was up to her now.

Maura arrived at work, early as usual, ready to begin the day's work. She looked at the first body on her table and prepared to begin her examination.

Her phone rang. Except, it wasn't exactly her phone, it was her father's. Reluctantly, she took it out of her pocket and answered it. "Hello," she said, trying her very best not to seem scared but not succeeding.

"Boss, no offence but you sound different," said a man.

"I'm ... Patty's daughter," she explained.

"Oh, well then nice to meet you Patty's daughter. See, I got this problem. There's this cop that keeps tailin' me. She won't back off and it's kinda hard to do my business with a cop hangin' around. Says her name's Jane Rizzolli. Whadaya want me to do?" he asked.

"Um ... well ... I ... I'll take care of it. Just ... just hold on a minute," she said, hanging up the phone. She wanted to scream, or run, or both. But she couldn't, there were too many lives at stake. So she took a deep breath, and then she took a few more, and then she rang Jane.

"Rizzolli," she said.

"Hi," said Maura, unsure of what else to say.

"Maura! I'm so glad you called. I missed you," she said.

"Yeah, I missed you too. I just ... I need you to come to the station," said Maura, trying to find a way to not lie and yet not tell her the complete truth.

"What, why?" asked Jane, confused.

"Please, Jane. For me," said Maura.

"Okay, I'll be there in ten," said Jane, ending the call. A few seconds later Patty's phone rang again.

"Hello," said Maura, slightly more confidently then the first time she'd answered.

"Patty's daughter, you did good. That cop hit the road faster than anyone I've ever seen. I dunno what you did, but I like it. I hope you're stickin' round, cause I could get used to this," he said.

"Don't count on it. And don't call me unless you have a problem. People who annoy me have a way of finding themselves at the bottom of a lake," said Maura, hanging up. For the first time in her life, she had lied. She lied because she was scared, scared weakness would lead to her assassination, scared if she wasn't tough enough people wouldn't do what she said, scared that people would die because of her. She felt bad that she had lied, she felt sick at what her father was turning her into.

She looked at the body in front of her. Somehow doing an autopsy didn't seem as interesting as it usually did. The adrenaline rush she had just had gave her a taste of excitement that she had never known. She was usually content to do autopsies, to solve the mystery of how they died, to help Jane solve her case. Jane. Jane was coming in ten minutes. Maura had no idea what she was going to tell her. By the time Jane arrived Maura still didn't know. "Maura!" said Jane as she ran from the elevator to her best friend.

"Hi ... um ... thanks for coming," said Maura, stalling for time.

"You know I'd do anything for you," said Jane. Maura forced a smile, but Jane saw right through it. "Maura, what's wrong? Why'd you bring me here?" asked Jane.

"I can't tell you why ... but I need you to stay here," said Maura.

"What? Maura, I can't do that! I have a job and I'm tracking this guy who might have a connection to the mob. I'm like this close to finding evidence that'll put him away for good," said Jane.

"I don't want you to get hurt," said Maura, a tear forming in her eye.

"What are you talking about? I'll be fine, okay? Look, in an hour I'll be back with my evidence and we'll laugh over how worried you were," said Jane, smiling, turning to walk away. Maura knew she had to do something. She grabbed Jane's arm and pulled Jane back to her. They looked into each other's eyes and finally gave into what they'd been fighting for so many years. Maura kissed Jane and Jane kissed her back.

Patty's phone rang. To Jane's surprise, Maura pulled back to answer the call. "Hello," said Maura confidently, watching Jane play with her medical equipment out of boredom.

"Boss, are you okay? You sound like you swallowed helium!" said a man.

"What do you want?" asked Maura harshly, eager to get back to Jane.

"These people started shooting at us! Said that you were dead and this was their turf now," said the man.

"Well then give them a taste of their own medicine," said Maura, hanging up the phone. She looked at Jane and went to kiss her again but Jane's phone rang. They both sighed.

"Rizzolli," she said. After two minutes Jane hung up the phone. "I have to go, but I'll be back real soon I promise. They've figured out who took over from Doyle," said Jane as she walked to the elevator. "I love you," she said as she pressed the Up button.

"I love you too," said Maura as Jane got into the elevator. She watched the doors close and realised that they couldn't be together, that this was probably the last time she would see Jane. Once Jane found out the truth it would all be over. Maura ran to the nearest exit, jumped in her car and sped off down the highway.


	2. Chapter 2

Jane got out of the elevator and found Korsak. "Sit down," he told her. Jane suppressed a laugh.

"What could be so bad? I see dead bodies every day," she said. Korsak looked at her and she saw in his eyes that something was really wrong. Slightly confused, she sat down. "Okay, what is it?" she asked.

"Maura," said Korsak.

"Oh my God, is she okay?" Jane asked, extremely concerned.

"She's fine, Jane. She's ... she's the one who's taken over from Doyle," he said.

"What? No, don't be ridiculous. She would never do that! I can't believe you! Why on Earth would you say something like that?" she asked.

"We have sources inside Doyle's ... Maura's ... operation. They rang Doyle's phone and she answered ... and she also ordered the killing of a rival gang," he said.

"That's stupid! I don't believe you. I'm going down to see Maura right now to clear this up," she said. Jane got up and walked as fast as she could to the elevator. Korsak followed her into the elevator. "GET OUT!" she screamed.

"You need backup if she tries to hurt you," he said. Jane couldn't believe the way that Korsak was talking. She tried to push him out of the elevator but he was too strong and the door shut before she could try again.

"We are talking about the same Maura, right? The medical examiner that has done nothing but help us for years! My best friend in the whole world who has been there for me through everything! I don't understand how you think she could be responsible. Your information is wrong or somebody's setting her up or ..." she said.

"I know you love her," he said.

"What?" she said, but she didn't deny it. She couldn't. "How?" she asked.

"Come on, it's so obvious! The way that you go everywhere with each other even though every other medical examiner I've ever met stays in the autopsy room. The way that you look at each other ... you don't look at anyone else that way. Oh, and remember when that guy hit on Maura and you told everyone you were just 'pretending' to be dating so that he would leave her alone. I mean, that didn't even make sense, all she had to say was no," he said.

"Okay, I get it," she said.

"Or the way you grab each other's arms all the time. Oh, remember when you traded clothes. I mean, come on," he said.

"Okay, okay, I said I get it!" she said. The elevator doors opened but Maura was nowhere to be seen. Jane searched the whole floor despite Korsak telling her it was a waste of time. She tried calling Maura; however after the eighteenth message Korsak took away her phone.

"Come on Jane, face facts. She's gone. Now we just have to do our job and bring her to justice like the rest of the criminals," he said.

"I will investigate the murder of those gang members Maura ALLEGEDLY ordered the killings of. If I find out that she actually did it, then I will deal with that. However, last time I checked we had an innocent until proven guilty system in this country. So why don't you stop making allegations and start getting me some hard evidence," she said.

"Okay," he said, unable to say anything else. He had never seen Jane so upset in his life. And they'd been through some pretty bad things together.

"So let's go to the crime scene then," she said, walking back to the elevator, trying to convince herself that nothing was wrong, that Maura could still be innocent, that the love of her life wasn't a criminal. Korsak said nothing, following Jane into the elevator, partially relieved that she wasn't trying to shove him out again. But he could see the pain on Jane's face and he had a feeling it was only going to get worse.


	3. Chapter 3

"Boss, we got a problem," said Mark. Mark had let Maura hide out in his house. He was one of her father's most trusted men; a hacker, thief and arms dealer. He lived in a penthouse, on the top floor. On the lower floors were people all loyal to Doyle, and now Maura, and willing to die to protect her. In a strange way Maura found that comforting. She had never had hundreds of people ready to protect her at all costs, except Jane. But Jane was ... wasn't here. "Boss are you listening?" asked Mark.

"Yes," Maura lied. She didn't even feel bad about lying now.

"So we have a problem. Our people are low on finances," he said.

"Rob a bank," she suggested.

"Which one?" he asked.

"I don't care which one! God, do I have to do everything around here? Follow me," she ordered. They rounded up everyone in the penthouse and equipped them with guns and masks. Then they drove to the nearest bank and told everyone to get on the ground.

The safe had a few hundred thousand dollars in it, which Maura decided was good enough for now. Everyone grabbed the money and stuffed it into garbage bags. After a few minutes they had almost emptied the safe when Maura heard a familiar voice. "Drop the weapons and put your hands on your head," yelled Jane.

Maura looked outside to see six police cars, snipers on the roof, police surrounding the building, people from surrounding buildings being evacuated and Jane. Jane was only meters from the building with a loudspeaker in her left hand and a gun with her right. Jane didn't know Maura was one of the gunmen, Maura realised. If Jane knew then Maura was sure she wouldn't shoot. Of course, she couldn't reveal herself to Jane without everyone else seeing her too.

"Boss, whada we do?" asked Mark. Maura had never robbed a bank before, but she'd seen Jane handle bank robberies before. She knew exactly what the police were going to do and she could anticipate their moves.

"Here's what's going to happen: we're all going to go into the back where the cops can't see us. Then we're going to take off our masks and superglue them to these people's faces. We're going to take out the bullets of our guns and then superglue the guns into the hostage's hands. Then we will fire some bullets into the ceiling, the cops will rush in and get us out. We'll have to put the money into briefcases and backpacks so we can just walk out with it. By the time the cops figure out what's gone on, we'll be back at the penthouse with a few extra hundred thousand dollars. Let's go!" said Maura.

Maura's plan worked almost flawlessly. Fourteen tubes of superglue later they fired the gun, tossed it away and waited to be rescued. A few seconds later the cops rushed in, pulled them out as fast as they could and tackled the hostages to the ground. When they tried to pull the hostage's masks off they couldn't, and when they tried to rip the guns from the hostage's hands they realised something was wrong. "We're the hostages!" somebody yelled at the cops.

"It's superglue!" somebody else yelled. Jane ran back outside to look for the people responsible but all she could see were black cars driving away. The licence plates were too far away to read, and she decided they were probably stolen anyway. She kicked the wall, cursing her stupidity. She had played right into their hands.

"Okay somebody get these people to the station, get them un-superglued and take their statements. Frost, I see security cameras; get me that footage! Let's go people, I want these bandits caught!" she said.

"What are you doing here?" asked one of the cops. She wasn't even supposed to be here. She had been down the street where a rival gang had been shot when all available officers were called to the scene. "Listen, I don't tell you how to do your job so why don't you get back to homicide," he continued. They had met before and suffice it to say they were not LLBFFs.

"Jane, you're going to want to see this," said Frost. Jane ignored the other cop and walked over to Frost, looking at the surveillance footage. There was audio. To Jane's surprise, she heard Maura's voice shouting orders. Jane was in shock. She couldn't say anything, she couldn't move, she could barely breathe. She just stood there, a flood of emotions going through her head simultaneously. She was angry, scared, confused and hurt. How could Maura do this to her?

"This can't be happening," she said after ten minutes.

"I don't know what to say. I know how close you two were. It really doesn't seem like her," said Frost.

"Yeah, it doesn't. You know what, that's because this isn't really her. She's drugged, or blackmailed, or something else like that. She's not evil. She can't be. So whatever is making her do these things, I'm gonna save her from it," she said.

"Jane, maybe she just changed," said Frost. It was the wrong thing to say; Jane glared at him and for a second he was worried she would hit him.

"The love of my life is not evil. We are missing something. There is a good reason why she is doing these things and we are going to figure it out. Do you understand me?" she asked slowly, her words clear and harsh.

"Yes ma'am," he said quickly. Jane walked out of the bank with new hope that Maura would come back to her, that they would be together again.


	4. Chapter 4

Maura was in the penthouse, right at the top. She had told Mark that he could find somewhere else to sleep because she was the boss and she got the best stuff. Mark agreed because a few hours ago he thought he was going to go to jail, but Maura had come up with a brilliant plan that had saved them all.

Maura looked out the glass doors of her new home. The sun had just set and in the glow of the moon she admired her view of the city. She couldn't help but think of Jane, out there somewhere, somewhere Maura wasn't. She missed Jane so much and for a moment she wondered if Jane missed her. Of course she did; she told me she loved me, Maura reminded herself. "Hi," said a voice.

Maura turned around to find Jane standing there. She noticed that the window was open, and if she had looked out of that window she would've found a ladder. However, she didn't particularly care how Jane got here. "Hi," said Maura, smiling. Jane found herself smiling back, despite all the bad things people had been saying about Maura.

"So you robbed a bank, huh?" asked Jane; unsure of how to put the subject delicately. Maura's smile faded, along with Jane's.

"What makes you say that?" asked Maura.

"There were security cameras at the bank. Cameras that recorded you talking," said Jane.

"So you're here to arrest me? Fine, go ahead. My lawyers will destroy you," said Maura in a tone Jane had never heard before.

"I ... I'm not going to arrest you. I love you! Or at least I thought I did. I thought I knew you but I was obviously very, very wrong. I owe everyone at the station a huge apology because they were right ... and I was wrong. Did you ever even care about me?" Jane asked, trying desperately not to cry.

"Of course I do, I love you!" said Maura.

"Then start explaining what the hell is going on," demanded Jane. When Maura said nothing Jane headed for the window.

"Wait!" yelled Maura. Jane turned back towards Maura. "It's complicated," said Maura.

"Are you kidding me? That's the best you've got?" asked Jane.

"Will you let me finish? Look, my father is a very powerful man. If he goes down, somebody else will take his place. And after hundreds of people die in a war deciding who that person is, they will hurt a lot of innocent people. So don't you see? I'm not hurting people, I'm saving them. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind," said Maura.

"You robbed a bank," said Jane.

"And nobody got hurt! Don't you see that?" asked Maura.

"You ordered that hit on that gang," said Jane.

"They were killers! They would've hurt innocent people and I stopped them from doing that," said Maura.

"You don't get to play judge and jury, Maura!" said Jane.

"Why the hell not? You think it's better for them to kill a few more people before you get the evidence to arrest them? Even if you had enough evidence, they still wouldn't get convicted. Other members of the gang would scare the jury into voting not guilty. And then they'd be back on the streets, hurting more innocent people. Is that your idea of justice?" asked Maura.

"Well ... not when you put it like that. But it doesn't mean that what you did was right. There are better ways. We have to trust the system and make it better when we can," said Jane.

"I'm not willing to put other people's lives in danger when they don't have to be. My father told me ..." began Maura.

"So that's what this is about! Forget about whatever he said!" said Jane.

"I can't! He was right. I am his daughter; I was meant to take over from him. There are bad people in this world that you can't stop. But I can. And nobody else is going to stop them, so I have to be that person," said Maura.

"You're fighting evil with evil, don't you see how flawed that is?" asked Jane.

"You're just as bad as I am. You put people in prison; lock them in a cage so they can be miserable for the rest of their lives! And I helped you do it. And when my father pointed that out to me I realised just how blind I had been. I guess evil is in my blood; there's no escaping it," said Maura.

"What? You can't be serious; you're the nicest person I've met! Even with the whole mob takeover thing," said Jane, trying to make light of the situation. Maura wasn't smiling.

"I think we both know that's not true," said Maura.

"What about us? I love you. You love me. We should be together," said Jane.

"We can't do that. My people will never trust a leader who's dating a cop. They'd shoot me. They might even shoot you. And you can't be a cop dating a criminal ... it just won't work," said Maura.

"Well then ... goodbye," said Jane. Tears started pouring down Maura's cheeks as she watched the love of her life climb out her window.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Maura went to see her father in hospital. The few police officers sent to guard him were obviously unaware of Maura's new position because they smiled and waved and let her in without hesitation. Paddy smiled when he saw his daughter. "Hey angel," he said.

"Oh shut it Patrick," said Maura, using his real name for effect.

"Why are you so mad at me?" he asked.

"Gee, I don't know," said Maura sarcastically. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're making me do horrible things to people because if I don't you'll kill Jane. And I hate wearing this thing in my ear that lets you talk to me; the sound of your voice is really starting to get on my nerves," she continued.

"Well I hear everything you say and I still think you have the voice of an angel. And I'm also glad that you told Jane everything I told you too ... for her sake," he said seriously.

"Why are you doing this to me?" she asked.

"I can't let anyone else take away everything I've worked for. I am sorry that you're relationship with this girl was collateral," he said.

"I'm glad Jane shot you," said Maura spitefully.

"No need to be mean. It's not personal, it's just business," he said.

"Well it's personal to me!" she said.

"If you do not do exactly as I say I will have Jane killed. And right now I am telling you to go away and rob another bank," he said. Maura thought about was a disaster the last bank robbery was but she didn't care if she ended up in jail just so long as Jane was safe. She left the room angrier than she'd come in and stormed off back to her penthouse.

Jane was at the office when she heard on the radio that a bank robbery had occurred although this time the police had been too late. Jane had a sinking feeling that it was Maura who was behind the robbery and was somewhat relieved that the police hadn't been there to stop her. She wondered what it would be like if Maura went to prison. She decided to think about something else. Anything else. And yet, no matter how hard she tried, all she could think about was Maura.

Frost reluctantly went up to Jane and handed her some coffee. "We need to go interview Maura as a suspect in the shooting," he said, adding some donuts to her desk in the hopes that she wouldn't get mad. Jane took a sip of the coffee.

"You're right ... we do," she admitted, sighing. "Let's just get this over with," she said, grabbing a donut for the road. Frost, happy to be alive and in one piece, followed her to the car.

"Wait ... you know where she is?" asked Frost.

"At the bank robbery there were five black cars. So I looked at all the camera footage from the streets around the bank at that time and just followed the five black cars," she said. Frost was impressed, but not nearly as impressed by Maura's new home when they arrived at the penthouse.

"Maybe I should consider a life of crime," he joked, but Jane wasn't in the mood and just glared at him. "Sorry," he said.

They got in the elevator and Jane pressed the button for the top floor. Frost wondered how Jane knew which floor Maura was on, but decided he didn't want to know. The less he knew, the less he was keeping from the police. They arrived to see a very surprised Maura standing in front of them. "Hi Jane. Frost," she said. They got out of the elevator.

"We're here about a shooting. Someone said you ordered a hit," said Frost.

"I'm going to deny that," said Maura, repeating every word her father told her in the concealed earpiece.

"Well ... okay ... don't leave town we may have more questions for you," said Frost. He walked back in the elevator but Jane didn't. She was just looking at Maura, too lost in Maura's eyes to notice what Frost was doing. Frost decided to go wait for Jane in the car.

"Hi again," said Jane, after Frost was gone.

"Why are you still here? I told you, we can't be together," said Maura, struggling to get out the words her father was telling her to say.

"Yeah ... I know. But I can't stop thinking about you. I didn't even get to sleep last night because all I could think about was never seeing you again," said Jane.

"I couldn't sleep either," admitted Maura, although her father had told her to say 'I slept fine.'

"So what are we going to do?" asked Jane.

"I don't know. Honestly all I want to do right now is sleep," said Maura, ignoring her father's voice in her ear yelling threats.

"Me too," said Jane.

"Well ... we could ... you know, sleep," said Maura.

"Okay," said Jane. She and Maura lay down on the bed, Jane holding Maura tightly, as they both fell asleep almost instantly.


End file.
